1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device imaging a subject and generating image data, an image management server managing an image file containing image data, an image communication system for communicating an image file, and an image management method of managing an image file.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are known various technologies of adding metadata such as capturing date and time to image data generated by an imaging device such as a digital camera, thereby enabling, for example, keyword search and the like to manage images. Recently, there are many ways of using image data, like that it is watched through an electronic device such as a television, a personal computer, a digital photo frame, and the like; it is attached to a mail; and it is stored, displayed, or the like through the Internet. As for a format of an image file taken by a digital camera, there is known an exchangeable image file format (EXIF). In the EXIF, metadata such as a manufacturer's name, the model of the device, capturing date and time, a stop, and a shutter speed are recorded by using a tag of a tagged image file format (TIFF). In the digital camera, metadata is automatically generated on the basis of the EXIF when an image file is stored.
Under these circumstances, there is known a technology of recording image data as content with metadata associated with the content and performing various processes by using the metadata.
For example, in a technology disclosed in the following Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-276706, virtual management information for virtually managing a content is generated. A file entry, which is a hierarchical entry including the generated virtual management information and organized in a virtual hierarchical structure, is recorded, and at the same time, a metadata entry, which is a hierarchical entry including metadata associated with the content, is recorded at a lower hierarchical level than the file entry. Desired metadata is extracted from the metadata included in the metadata entry, and at the same time, a content file recorded at a higher hierarchical level than the metadata entry including the extracted metadata is extracted. Therefore, it is possible to quickly use the content.